MASS EFFECT
INFECTION
A huge shout out to those who have reviewed and offered advice. I'm sure if you go back to chapter one you'll see that you're words have not fallen on deaf ears… or blind eyes, whatever.
However, I will say that there I a point to Shepard's hair-do with reassurance that it'll be gone soon.
Many of the chapters have undergone small changes in detail. They don't necessarily affect the story as a whole but if you want go re-read the story. I believe its better.
Mass Effect and all related materials belong to Bioware and EA.
CHAPTER TEN
Asari Republic Frigate
Thessia's Wrath
Geosynchronous Orbit
over Sol Prime
Liara felt the shuttle shutter as it took off and passed through the hanger bay and into the empty void. The bulky Albatross shuttle was a much larger and heavier version of the Kodiak drop ship that she boarded back on Therum. It allowed the thirty four people inside at least some room but lacked any form of comfort.
Her comfort level was lowered even further due to the fact she was seated between both Krogan mercenaries. The one with the green head fringe, Wreav, was cleaning off his heavy Claymore Shotgun with near religious detail. Liara found herself staring. The thing looked as if it was designed to maim and kill with murderous glee, similar to look the krogan was giving her.
"You're eyes stuck?" he asked, his voice booming.
"No sorry," Liara uttered.
Liara turned her head away from the krogan who returned to cleaning his weapon.
"Wreav, did a Varren crawl up your ass?" mocked Wrex.
"Oh shove it."
"Come on, we're being paid a lot to play babysitter, at least try and act like this is an easy job."
Wreav snorted, "You know, if you didn't kill father we wouldn't be having this problem. I could be sitting nice and happy on Tuchanka with a female riding my quad. Instead I'm stuck traveling the galaxy living day to day."
Wrex merely grunted in response.
Liara tried her best to ignore the conversation but her close proximity prevented that. Eventually her curiosity got the better of her.
"You killed your father?" she asked as innocently as possible.
Wrex turned to Liara, glaring at her as if she was a bug that needed to be squashed by his massive boot. Luckily, Wreav intervened.
"Sure did," the krogan answered for his brother, "you see, Wrex here is an idealist. He tried uniting the clans under a single banner, trying to organize our colonization efforts. Our father, Jarrod, wasn't having it. He said 'if the aliens can't stop us from moving in, then they aren't worthy of the planet'. He and Wrex fought at every turn."
"That's enough," Wrex threatened.
But Wreav continued, "Eventually Jarrod set up a crush and invited Wrex to join him."
"A crush?" asked Liara.
"It's when two clans meet. They discussed their issues over the bodies of our ancestors. It is our most sacred place, violence is forbidden," explained Wreav.
"What happened?"
"Jarrod and Wrex talked but it was going nowhere. Jarrod gave the signal and his followers leapt from the graves like krogan undead. Those that had come with Wrex died quickly."
"But not before I sunk my dagger deep into his chest!" Wrex loudly proclaimed.
To Liara's surprise, Wreav laughed, "Ha, and what a death it was! The look on his face… I'll never forget it."
"So how did you end up here?"
Wreav shrugged, "Jarrod was a warlord of several hundred warriors. They wanted to avenge his death so I grabbed this sad excuse for a krogan and we left. We haven't been back since."
Wrex was visibly fuming by this point, "you got a lot of nerve," he said as his body began glowing with a blue aura. Wreav chuckled and stood to confront him.
"Come on then pup, you think you have the plates to take me on?"
The two looked as if they were ready to kill each other then and there. Luckily it was put down before they could tear a hole in the bulkhead.
"Cut it out!" barked Garrus as he moved in between them.
"Can it split-chin, I want this varren's head!"
"Sit down, the both of you, or it'll come out of you pay!"
Thankfully, the two krogan loved money more than battle and sat back in their respective seats. Garrus, satisfied that the situation was dealt with returned to his seat and opened his omni-tool, pulling up a report of the initial scans and prepared for the mission.
XxxxxX
Aboard the Thessia's Wrath, the crew watched as the Albatross slowly made its way planet side.
Captain Andralla herself was in high spirits. So far the mission was going beautifully; they had even arrived ahead of schedule.
She patrolled around the CIC, making sure that everything was performing to specifications. With no problems to speak of, she began to head towards the elevator.
"I'm going to my quarters, XO has the deck."
"Aye captain."
However, before she could even get near to what was a guaranteed couple of hours of sleep, her navigation officer called out.
"Ma'am, I'm reading a FTL rupture."
Andralla turned, confused, and headed towards the console.
"We are supposed to be the only ship out here, give me a reading," she ordered.
"Analyzing… I'm not reading a Council IFF… two more ruptures have just appeared!"
Andralla had survived many excursions during the Rachni War, a few of them being very close calls. As a result she developed a near sixth sense in detecting danger. Right now that sense was screaming at her.
"All hands action stations, give me full power to the shields and arm the MAC!"
Her orders carried throughout the ship as the crew scurried to their stations.
"Give me a visual," Andralla ordered as she approached her holographic display.
Moments later the image of three ships appeared before her. She gazed upon them with alert eyes. Two of them appeared to be cruisers and the third looked to be a frigate. She seemed to be outmatched numerically and in weapon superiority. But when it came to strategy and discipline, Andralla knew that she held the advantage.
"Report!"
"Ma'am, ships are giving off EM signatures matching the Eclipse mercenary organization."
"Captain," cried the XO, "they're arming weapons and powering shields!"
"Helm, bring us about 45 degrees starboard. I want us pointed right at them. Is the MAC armed?"
"Fifteen seconds, Ma'am, we weren't expecting combat so it needs to charge."
Andralla cursed herself for not being more prepared. She should have prepared for everything and blamed only herself.
"Armed torpedo bays nine through thirty," she ordered her weapons team.
"Captain they're launching fighters!"
"Launch our own interceptors and prep the bombers," Andralla commanded. Albeit she only had four interceptor and two bombers but it was better than nothing.
"They aren't heading for us," the navigation officer clarified in a low voice.
"If they aren't going for us…"
The thought struck Andralla like a tone of bricks.
"Arm everything we got, they're going after the transport! Send the Albatross a message let them know we have incoming!"
Andralla felt her grip on the railing of the holographic projector tighten. She could only pray that the pilot was good enough to avoid getting hit until her own ships could reach it.
XxxxxX
Nihlus was feeling apprehensive in the cockpit of the Albatross. He was anxious to get the mission underway and even more anxious to prove to Saren that he was SpecTre material.
Nihlus was selected from three dozen other turian military recruits. Chances were that he wouldn't have been picked but he made a name for himself a few years prior when his unit, on leave on an independent asari world, was attacked by pirates and raiders attempting to lay siege to the planet. He fought for three days and four nights until backup arrived and by that time most of his team was dead and he found himself alone. The metal block in his assault rifle was used up and he had lost in shotgun. Using only a pistol and whatever weapons his enemies dropped, Nihlus had held the line.
"Calm down," a voice ordered.
Nihlus looked up at Saren who was seated across from him with an almost bored expression on his face.
"Sir?"
"You're nervous," the elder turian stated, "when you're nervous you get jumpy. When you get jumpy you make mistakes. Mistakes make you dead."
"Sir," Nihlus responded steeling his nerves.
"Besides," Saren continued, "chances are that we won't encounter anything of note and we'll be gone before long. We're only here to make sure nothing cache goes down during the initial drop."
Nihlus nodded but couldn't help but feel nervous. It wasn't like he never saw combat. He wouldn't be able to call himself a turian if did. It was the unknown that made him restless. He knew next to nothing about this place besides what little was explained in the briefing.
"Aren't you the least curious about this planet?"
"No."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Not for the first time, Nihlus wished his SpecTre mentor was more sociable. The two sat in silence for the next few moments, Nihlus deep in thought and Saren sitting as still as a statue with his eyes closed.
Thankfully, the sound of the Albatross' radio broke the silence.
"Albatross 8-3, this is Thessia's Wrath, respond."
The two pilots looked at each other in mild surprise.
"Take over, would you?" said the pilot to her partner before answering the comm..
"This is Eight-three, go ahead."
"We are detecting multiple hostile signatures bearing down on your position, advise you proceed with evasive maneuvers."
The pilot cursed and responded in the affirmative before taking back the controls. Her co-pilot frantically turning whatever defensive systems the transport had on.
"Can one of you tell those guys back there to buckle up; this is going to get bumpy."
Saren grunted, clear in his thoughts on the idea. Nihlus shook his head, "I guess I'll go."
Saren smirked, "You're too kind."
Nihlus rose from his seat and proceeded through the cockpit doors. The door slide open and he leaned out.
"Buckle up people, we have incoming," he ordered.
The group of scientists and conscripts threw each other worried glances before doing as instructed. As the last one fastened themselves in, Nihlus went about to each one, making sure they were secure.
XxxxxX
The Thessia's Wrath shook violently from a barrage of torpedoes, the shields flaring over the hull at each impact point.
Andralla braced herself on the railing to prevent herself from falling over. She still wondered how the hell the Eclipse managed to find out about a top secret mission like this but that thought was quickly driven away. However the found out would not save her or the transport and that was all that was important right now.
"Status report!"
"Shield strength down fifteen percent! Weapon batteries thirteen through twenty are offline. Guardian Laser defenses have overheated and we're detecting hull breaches in sectors four and eleven!" responded her executive officer.
"Divert all non-essential systems to the shields and seal all breached sections," Andralla barked.
"But we still have people down there!" a technician exclaimed in horror.
"If we don't seal those compartments we'll all die, now do it!"
"Aye… captain," the ensign replied dutifully.
It was a hard choice but Andralla knew that it needed to be done.
The Thessia's Wrath mass accelerated cannon boomed loudly, sending a 32 kilo slug down range. Since the Thessia's Wrath was only a frigate she was only armed with a single MAC, unlike her opposing cruisers which carried two. The one advantage the Wrath did have was her maneuverability. She was much faster than the cruisers making it difficult for them to get a bead on her. The opposing frigate however was still able to keep up, chasing down the Wrath, attempting to knock her engines out so the cruisers could deliver the killing blow. It was only thanks to the crew of the asari frigate and the timely instructions of Andralla that prevented that from happening
"Are the guardians operational?"
"Give me thirty seconds and you'll have full power," replied the weapons officer.
Andralla watched the holographic display as it showed the enemy frigate pull up along side the Wrath. Andralla cursed in her native tongue. In the naval world, she just entered in what was known as a knife fight.
Knife fights were close quarters combat between two opposing ships similar to how old Galleons would fight on earth back in the pre-industrial days. Without guardian laser defenses, the Wrath would be extremely vulnerable in this position.
"Fire everything we have on that ship!" Andralla commanded regarding the frigate.
In the depth of space above Earth, the two ships met, exchanging a vast array of torpedoes and laser fire, whittling each other's shields down and penetrating the outer hull.
Again Andralla braced herself as an explosion rocked her ship. She knew she couldn't keep this up. Once her shields were gone, there would be little standing in the way of her hull and the reinforced plating would only last so long.
"Status!"
"Shields down to thirty percent! Sections all over the ship report fires and many compartments are venting!"
"Send an alert to the fire crews and seal all exposed compartments," Andralla ordered. Thankfully no one argued with her this time.
"Captain, Guardian Defenses are on-line!"
The weapons tech didn't even need to be ordered to open fire, reading her captain's mind as if it were a holo-display.
The Thessia's Wrath point defense lasers opened up on her opponent. In combination with the torpedo fire, the enemy ship was forced to break off, giving Andralla some breathing room.
"Lock on that ship and fire the MAC!"
She received confirmation and three seconds later the Wrath sent another slug towards her opposite number. The slug impacted the frigate, depleting whatever shields the Eclipse ship had left.
"Enemy is firing up their FTL drive, their trying to make a run for it!"
"Not if I have anything to say about it, open fire with bays one through five."
The Wrath sent her payload down range, connecting with the frigate. Explosion rocked all over the enemy's hull. Seconds later more secondary explosions erupted until the final one that caused it to explode into a giant fire ball.
"That's a kill!"
A chorus of applause and cheers echoed in the CIC.
"Alright, but we still have two more hostiles out there. What's the status on the transport?"
The executive officer rushed to a nearby console.
"Still operational but they have two bogey's on their six."
"How many of the interceptors are still operational?"
"Two ma'am and they got their hands full."
Andralla cursed. The shuttle's only salvation was the Wrath but with the two cruisers bearing down on her she couldn't afford to change battlefields.
"Launch the bombers and have them target the second cruiser, we'll handle the other. Order the two remaining interceptors to divert and give them a clear path."
Andralla turned to her weapons officer.
"Target the other cruiser with our MAC and show them what happens when you mess with a Republic vessel."
"Aye, ma'am!"
XxxxxX
Liara felt herself slam into Wrex's side as the shuttle made another sharp turn. Minutes ago, the Thessia's Wrath informed them of incoming hostiles and sure enough a couple enemy fighters appeared and began firing at the Albatross. The Wrath had launched interceptors of her own but they were too few to make much of an impact and soon were attacked by the hostile fighters.
A nearby explosion rocked the ship again. A couple of the scientists who were unused to combat scenarios screamed in terror. If Liara could actually grasp the situation instead of shutting her eyes tightly and griping her seat bonds as if her life depended on it, she would have been as well.
"Doesn't this thing have any weapons?" bellowed Wrex.
"This is a transport, not a gunship!" replied Garrus.
Wreav scoffed, "soft aliens build soft ships… Wrex if we die-"
"I hate you too Wreav," Wrex interrupted causing Wreav to laugh.
"Ha! Maybe there's hope for you yet!"
In the cockpit, the two pilots were frantically trying to outmaneuver the smaller and faster craft. A barrage of nose mounted gunfire danced along the outer edges of the hull which showed that they were living on borrowed time.
"We can't out run them forever, we need to do something!" exclaimed the pilot.
"Head into the debris field," instructed Saren who was relatively calm considering their situation.
The two pilots exchanged glances but did as Saren said, and turned the ship into the field of orbiting debris.
The two Eclipse fighters followed them in, guns blazing, weaving in and out of the earth made satellites and unmanned space stations.
"Do we have any weapons?" asked Saren.
"We have a 20mm nose mounted turret but that's it!" responded the co-pilot.
"Head to that construct there," Saren said pointing at a piece of debris that was circular in the middle with two rectangular wings.
The Albatross lazily made its way, enemy fire depleting their already low powered shields.
The Albatross flew within meters of the construct before Saren ordered the ship to dive. The transport did just that as the fighter behind it moved itself in a killing position. The fighter pilot was unable to react in time and slammed right into it. Its remnants fell harmlessly down to the planet bellow. Its comrade however made the turn.
"Get behind that one!" ordered Saren.
The Albatross turned and found itself behind the final fighter who was trying desperately to shake the bulky transport. Luckily, with Saren's guidance, the Albatross was able to maintain her course. The pilot smirked once a kill shot was properly lined up.
"For Thessia!"
The Albatross nose gun sounded off in the void, ripping holes into the smaller craft. A trail of smoke began emanating from the fighter before its pilot lost control and crashed into a floating piece of debris like its comrade before him.
"Whew!" sighed the pilot wiping away a trail of sweat, "that was close."
She turned to face Saren, "you SpecTre types don't play around."
"I don't play, I kill," responded Saren causing the pilot to gulp and turn back to the viewport.
"I'll put us on a docking path with the Wrath. Then we can get out of here."
"No, head to the surface," ordered Saren.
"What?"
"You heard me. The mission proceeds as planned."
"The plan went out the window once those ships appeared. This mission is scrubbed. We're returning to the Wrath."
"Head. To. The. Planet," Saren said slowly and coldly.
"No, my objective is keep my passengers safe, not to help you keep you're untarnished record," the pilot stated defiantly.
Saren shook his head, "you are impeding with a Council mandated mission and therefore you are a liability and I'll be forced to kill you and commandeer this ship."
The pilot stared at Saren for a moment trying to see if he was bluffing. Saren stared back with a blank, cold expression etched on his face. The SpecTre saw a wave of fear flash across the pilot's face when she realized that he was dead serious on his threat.
"The planet… now," Saren ordered cementing his authority.
The pilot nodded and made a turn towards Sol Prime.
The transport began to vibrate roughly as it began to break through the planet's upper atmosphere.
"We'll be making planet fall in three-" the pilot began but was interrupted by a loud incessant alarm.
The co-pilot began checking systems for the cause. Her eyes widened when she found it.
"We got weapons locked on us!"
"We're painted," observed the pilot, "I can't maneuver in these conditions!"
The Albatross cleared the upper atmosphere's cloud cover and Nihlus could finally see Sol Prime's surface for himself. The ruins below him were vast, spreading in all directions as far as the eye could see. He noticed a red colored bridge stretching over a wide river that split the ruin in two.
The torpedoes originator, a single fighter, launched a single torpedo towards the descending transport before breaking off.
"We got a live torpedo!"
"Shields?" the pilot asked.
The co-pilot read her readings and looked at her comrade forlornly, "not enough…"
The pilot jumped on the Albatross' PA.
"Everyone, brace for impact!"
Seconds later the torpedo collided with Albatross' tail sending the transport into an uncontrolled downward spiral. All the occupants could do was hold on and pray they survived the landing.
XxxxxX
"Status?" Andralla asked her crew as she wiped away a trail of blue blood that was disrupting her vision in her left eye.
"Shields are depleted. Second cruiser is venting atmosphere and we're reading multiple secondary explosions coming from her hull. The first cruiser is as bad off as we are."
Andralla nodded, "and what of our bombers?"
The executive officer shook her head.
"There's one more thing… the drive core has destabilized."
Andralla was silent for a second, "How long?"
"A minute, maybe less..." was her response
It was all Andralla needed. She looked around her ruined CIC. Cables and panels hung exposed, the bodies of the dead and injured sprawled on the floor, and the lights were coming in and out. She knew she wasn't getting out of this alive. In space, there was no room for bullshit, no room for empty hopes. She and her crew would fall but Andralla was determined to make sure the afterlife was filled to capacity when she got there.
She looked to her XO and her helmsman, the only other two that were still able to perform their duties, and finally down to the wounded. Each was looking at her waiting for the order they knew Andralla had to make.
During the Rachni War, Andralla had fought and survived twenty six different excursions, each one she somehow was able to pull off a win and walk away with her head held high. But finally, whether it was fate or chance, death had came for her and this was one visitor who didn't take no for an answer.
"Helm… execute order ninety two… put us on a collision course."
Her helmsman didn't respond. She simply nodded as turned to fulfill her last duty. Andralla noticed with mild satisfaction as the second cruiser exploded. All that was left was the final one and Andralla was making sure that it would go down with her.
"Collision in… Five" reported the ship's virtual intelligence.
Andralla felt her executive officer approach beside her, grasping Andralla's hand in her own.
"Four…"
"It has been an honor, Captain."
"Three…"
"The honor has been mine."
"Two…"
The remaining asari crew members watched as the enemy cruiser grew larger and larger.
"One…"
The two leviathans collided over Earth in a spectacular display of fire and heat, their hulls fusing together for the briefest of seconds before both ships' drive cores erupted, showering the planet below in an artificial meteor shower.
The fires quickly died in the oxygen deprived void. A few charred remnants of the four ships were the only proof that they ever existed.
Author's note:
Okay, so many of you were contemplating on how Liara was going to get stranded on the planet and this was how it all went down. Trust me when I say that this was the original idea from the beginning. Any problems let me know.
Next chapter will be the aftermath of the battle.
For any Mass Effect and/or Fallout fans, go Check out Commandocucumber's adaptations (Watchdog and Modus Operandi) for very high quality writing and invigorating storylines. The bastard already has me hooked and begging for more and I'll bet it'll do the same to you. So go check his page out, you won't regret it.
I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, although I will be making many changes over the next couple of days. Tune in Wednesday for Chapter Eleven. Why so soon? Because I can. And I already kinda started writing it…
Tune in for Mass Effect Chapter Eleven!